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Writing Challenges: Inspiration and ideas to spark your creativity every day

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Teenager

Who are you and what is your life like as a teenager in 2023? In words or images, explore, but don't feel limited by, questions such as:
  • Who are you at your core? How, when, or where do you most feel like your true self?
  • What most inspires you? Where do you find awe, joy, contentment, kindness, love?
  • What are the major influences in your life – people, places, ideas, creativity, the arts? How do they help to define who you are, what is important to you, and what you hope for in your life?
  • What issues are teenagers facing that adults don’t understand?
PRIZES AND PUBLICATION IN TWO CATEGORIES: Writing: Poetry, prose, essay, commentary, songwriting; Visual Art Category: Photography, painting, sketching, sculpture, collage, digital art. If your chosen genre or medium isn't listed here, that's OK, go ahead and submit it!
NOTE TO VISUAL ARTISTS: Responses can be abstract, literal, symbolic, interpretive, realistic – whatever best conveys your message.
DEADLINE: March 1, 2023

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Responses to this Challenge

Jan 10
poetry challenge: Teenager
malaika8's picture

Would You Rather?


People always ask,
Would you rather change the past,
or see the future. 
I'd change the past.
I wouldn't invite him over or even become his friend.
I wouldn't send my mom away because in my head, 
What bad could ever happen?

Although I was wrong, 
If I could change the past, 
My skin would be unscathed,
I'd be free from the nightmare that'll haunt me forever. 
I wouldn't let him pretend I'm a chip on a game board, 
just for him to throw away when he's done.

I told myself non of it was real...
It was all a nightmare but,
We all know that's not true. 
My skin holds a story that I thought no one would know. 

I am no less than him, yet he had the power.
He took something from me.
He took away my voice, my strength, 
He took away my power. 
It's something I'll forever fight to get back. 
My words and skin for now, 
Read More
Posted: 01.10.23
Jan 08
visual art challenge: Teenager
abartell's picture

Who Am I

Who Am I
Kearah M
Mixed media on paper
Grade 9, Danville School VT
Read More
Posted: 01.08.23
Jan 03
poetry challenge: Teenager

The Green State (home)

The grizzly bark trees
drop their rusted leaves
and the quilt mountains—
amongst snow and ice,
beside frozen lakes—
groan with content
under the gaze of clouds
with the sun barely peeping.

The smoking chimneys
reside in cozy brick homes
with icicles that curve inward
toward stained glass windows
housing dedicated families
surrounded by the conifers
covered in assorted mosses.

The smell of pollution
is left long behind in the south;
the breath of freshness
from these bare fir trees
sends me into a lost dream
where it is greener than green,
where it is I am meant to be. 
Read More
Posted: 01.03.23
Nov 09
poetry challenge: Teenager

14 years

1. My flesh met the fogginess of the world, and I opened my eyes — so bright, too bright. I closed my eyes, took a breath, and when I was ready, my lips broke into a smile and my eyes lit up to meet love's, as so many leaned over and told me I was a miracle, a miracle, a miracle. I am joy.

2. I am strong now. I know to wail when I see the clouds and beam when I see the sun. I will waddle so fast that no one will be able to catch me, and I will wait for them, I will sunbathe in my own pride. Now, I know to cry when I hear thunder and laugh when I see the blue sky. I will dance when I see a rainbow. I am confidence.
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Posted: 11.09.22
Sep 14
poetry challenge: Teenager

school, snakes, and time

papers squeeze me tight like a mummy scribbled on
haste of time, time crinkled 'round the edges
too much spilling from the that folded cup.

computer cord coils 'round my ankles i
bend over backwards to wipe the wet from my
puffy eyes lurch over forwards shoved to your

petite hourglasses squeezed into fabric tubes
that cost a thousand bucks and gashed bootie denim
i'll never compare to no matter how many times

i suck my stomach in in the warped reflection
in my bathroom where i scrawl last-minute
algebra notes on the rim of the bath tub

hourglasses and cords and papers coil
'round my ankles like snakes reaching
to the gray ether, put the power out

slip 'round my neck like a beaded choker
and if i fell today i know the last thing
these faded emeralds will see are

hourglasses and cords and papers
coiling 'round,
like snakes.
Read More
Posted: 09.14.22

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